Peggy Osterkamp's Weaving Blog
"Weaving should be fun!"
Instead of using a raddle when setting up the loom, you might use a reed instead, to spread out the warp for beaming. The Swedes use a coarse reed they would normally have around for their rug projects. This reed is only used for beaming the warp–another reed that is the size for the cloth … Read more
Yarn frays and breaks If you want to use a yarn that frays and breaks, avoid any friction that can cause abrasion on the yarns. Advance the warp often, so no one area of the yarn rides too long in a heddle or in the reed and becomes abraded. Change the sheds when the beater … Read more
Doubling Wefts on Pirns or Bobbins Have you ever wanted to combine two or more yarns as one weft? Have you discovered it doesn’t work very well because, no matter what you’ve tried, one yarn always loops up so they don’t lie flat together in the shed? The answer is: use a doubling stand to … Read more
Determining sett by getting the diameters on a ruler is easy to do with a heavy yarn, but it would be terribly hard with a slippery, or nubbly, or fine thread. There’s a way to find the diameters using a pencil, paper and an inexpensive calculator. For me, this makes finding the sett a piece … Read more
Paint the screw eye where it catches on threads or lets them escape the eye with nail polish. it may take a couple of applications to coat all around the tiny space to close the eye completely.Use this on screw eyes on your doubling stand (see a previous tip) or on screw eyes on your … Read more
Take-up is the shortening of yarns during weaving because of the curving of the threads as they interlace. For example, larger yarns take up more than finer ones because they must travel farther in their curves that go over and under the weft. When the separate warps take-up differently, they cannot be put together on … Read more
Make this special raddle and see the modifications after the initial directions. First, use a piece of scrap lumber (but use soft wood) as long as the width of your loom and about 2″ wide. Mark 1/2″ increments along the whole length on a line that is 3/4″ in from one long edge. This offsets … Read more
Yarn Count Explained: Understanding the labels on yarn packages This is an excerpt from Peggy’s new book, the revised edition of Book #1: Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle, that just came out in July. This is information not in the first edition and comes in the extensive new chapter on Sett. Table of … Read more
>> As of 9/20/23 my friends at the Schacht Spindle Company will be the provider of the print versions of my four books and my one DVD video. From now on I will only be selling the digital copies of some of my books and my one video from this page. Weaving for Beginners:An Illustrated … Read more
Here is my new warp–sewing thread–for some art pieces. More ruffles, probably. You can see the 10 spools that I used on my warping reel with a heck block. Otherwise, for 10 spools you would definitely need to use a paddle (which is a good idea). See my book, Winding a Warp & Using a … Read more
This is taken from my new book, Weaving for Beginners, on page 280. The information is also found in my Book #1, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle. See the chapters devoted to sett (epi). Make your weaving easier: Use the 80% number (Ashenhurst’s percentage) In industry, a balanced looking fabric is actually a … Read more
In the new Handwoven on page 60, there is a tip at the top of the page suggesting using a doubling stand. It is a piece of equipment I couldn’t get along without. You can buy one or rig one yourself. This is taken from my book #3, “Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth“, page … Read more
Here’s a question I received yesterday. “I want to tie on a new warp for some scarves. However, I want to change the sett from 18 epi to 16 epi. Is it possible to do this?If so, how? I also would like to make it an inch narrower. Do I just not tie on the … Read more
I’m still experimenting with sheer this time with a warp of sewing thread instead of the fine silk. The weft is the lovely gold silk that took me a month to spool off from the skein. It is stiff because it is undegummed. That helps keep the beat open and there are variations in the … Read more
The principles of how warps and wefts bend are valuable to understanding a lot about weaving–especially why cloth draws in and causes selvedge threads to break. The principles apply for so many aspects–for example, for weaving balanced or near balanced fabric, the warp tension must not be too tight. That would prevent the warps from … Read more
One reader suggested I talk a bit about sampling. How much to make, wasting “good” yarn, when and why, etc. etc.You can save yourself a lot of heart ache if you make a sample before weaving something and find out that it shrinks too much, or “doesn’t turn out.” You might make a sampler or … Read more
Using a temple or stretcher Taken from “Weaving for Beginners”, pages 312, 313. Temples and stretchers can slow you down, but in certain situations, they are necessary. Rug weavers use them. They are helpful for weft-oriented weave structures that tend to draw in more, such as overshot. Some weavers say that if the sett and … Read more
I use Ashenhurst’s rule to take the mystery out of sett (warp or weft-wise). Check this out in my Book #1, Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle” and also in my new book, “Weaving for Beginners“. In both books I’ve devoted a chapter to determining the ends per inch (epi) or sett. Book #1 … Read more
DOUBLING STANDS This is taken from my book #3, “Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth“, page 67. More on doubling stands follows on page 67. How to make your own is at the end of the tip. Have you ever wanted to combine two or more yarns as one weft? Have you discovered it doesn’t … Read more
I got an email from a weaver with too many books who hoped that my books were available in PDF format. When I replied that they weren’t she answered, “I think I’m probably just going to have to shuffle up some space on the bookshelves and hope my husband doesn’t notice!” Before my divorce 11 … Read more
Someone wrote to ask if I was giving up teaching weaving when I give up one room of my studio. I still teach privately in my weaving studio. There is still space for that. I love seeing people one-on-one. When I retired I decided a book for beginners was necessary for my good methods to … Read more
Weaving for Beginners WEAVING FOR BEGINNERS: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE Peggy Osterkamp SAUSALITO, CALIFORNIA: LEASE STICKS PRESS, 2010. HARDBOUND SPIRAL, 406 PAGES, $49.95. ISBN 978-0-9768855-1-1 “Whether you are learning to weave or teaching weaving, this book offers everything you need to know. Based on Osterkamp’s years of weaving and teaching using time-honored Europeanweaving techniques, Weaving for … Read more
Peggy Osterkamp’s special skill is making the richness of her training and experience accessible to students. In the series, Peggy Osterkamp’s New Guide to Weaving, she presents a wealth of weaving knowledge and research, much of it never available before in the United States. Once an apprentice to Jim Ahrens in a production studio, Osterkamp … Read more